Harvest Chipotle Chili - Emphasis on Chipotle

So I decided to make some chili for dinner tonight and I remembered a recipe I had seen in Midwest Living for "Harvest Chipotle Chili" that looked really good.  So I found the recipe and made a list of all the ingredients I needed for it and ran to the store real quick.  I was pretty hungry so I got to making it pretty quickly when I got home. 

After I had it simmering for about a half hour I decided to give it a taste to see if I needed to adjust my seasonings and BAM!  It had a pretty darn good kick and the taste about choked me as it was going down.  So I decided it needed more salt and maybe a touch of honey to balance out the other flavors.  A few minutes later I had another taste and it still about knocked me on my butt.  So I took a look at the recipe and specifically the chipotle peppers that are called for in the recipe thinking that maybe I grabbed the wrong size that was called for. 

The recipe says "2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce."  All of a sudden it hit me!  Not 2 cans of chipotle peppers but just two individual chipotle peppers from a can.  Whoopsies!  Well, Chris and I ended up having a bowl for dinner.  While it was still tasty I struggled to handle the heat from the chipotle peppers.  Chris is much tougher than I am when it comes to spicy food and I'm just a big 'ol wuss. 

This is a recipe I will definitely be making again but will make sure I add the appropriate amount of chipotle peppers.  One thing I added to the chili that isn't in the recipe...surprise, surprise...bacon!  The sweet potatoes and apples balance out the smokiness of the chipotle peppers.   Even though the apples may seem weird don't omit them.  Their tartness mellows with the cooking and are a great flavor contrast.